Your answers must be UK spelling, correct grammar, punctuation and sentence structure. Please check and recheck. I have provided an example of an answer you can get ideas but not copy

There are 2 Activities that you need to do. I have provide video links and reading material that you must use and refer to in your answers.

PLEASE NOTE: Indigenous people is referring to AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL people

Activity 1
Would you please answer each of the following 4 questions. Your answers need to be a discussion.

• Drawing on the readings, videolinks or other resources for this week, discuss your understanding of factors impacting the mental health and well-being of Indigenous people in Australia.
Questions:
1. To what extent can you see the relevance of risk and protective factors in this context?
2. What have you seen in practice or through relevant resources that highlights positive strategies for improving mental health and well-being for members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?

Video links

Australasian Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health: http://www.rrmh.com.au/
(mental health and wellbeing programs for the mining and resources sector, agricultural sector and Indigenous Australia)
Headspace Resources; Indigenous Australians: http://www.headspace.org.au/what-works/resources/indigenous-australians-statistics

Indigenous Language News Radio: http://www.abc.net.au/news/indigenous/

Indigenous Language Map: http://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/map/default.htm

Creative Spirits; Aboriginal Languages (verbal & non-verbal) & Statistics: http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/language/

About NITV (National Indigenous Television): http://www.nitv.org.au/about-nitv/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=67

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
• Based on your knowledge of MHFA either through direct involvement in training and awareness of support strategies or through perusing the guidelines and associated resources:

3. Briefly outline the potential you consider it has in areas in high school, and more broadly in your community.
4. Provide a specific example of MHFA being utilised effectively or a situation in which you consider it may have been helpful.

Link for MHFA

https://mhfa.com.au/

Activity 2

Reading the suggested answer (below), discuss if you agree or disagree, what you thought about the writers answers, etc

Please keep in mind the potential sensitivity of some of the content you may read, and remain respectful and supportive in your comments

Suggested answer – you can look at to get ideas but not copy

Drawing on any of the readings, videolinks or other resources for this week, discuss your understanding of factors impacting the mental health and well-being of Indigenous people in Australia.
1. To what extent can you see the relevance of risk and protective factors in this context?

The article by Sun, Buys, Tatow and Johnson (2012) provided me with greater understnading aboout the factors that impact mental health and well being in Indigenous people in Australia. As outlined in Sun et al. (2012), indigenous communities around Australia continue to experience grief, loss and truama, which strongly affects social and emotional well-being, as well as mental health. Further, high rates of exposure to negative stressful events, inclusing truama among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, are due to colonisation and continous disadvanatge (Sun et al., 2012). Indigenous disadvantage is directly related to morbidity and mortality, and some of these disadvanatages include lack of employment, family violence, past governement practices and policies, substance abuse and povery (Sun et al., 2012). Living rurally and in remote areas, limits acess to resources, further impacting on mental health outcomes and well being. In the study by Sun et al. (2012), it was found that lack of social support was associated with poor mental health and emotional well being difficulties. Accordingly, people who felt less valued and had low levels of trust in people in the commmunity were at an increased risk of experiencing mental health problems (Sun, 2012). Therefore, to improve the health and well being of indigenous Australians we must understand the risk factors associated with Indigeous people and communities, and how these risks became about. It is important to understand that Indigenous Australains have experienced family and community disconnection through forced removal, displacement, and instutionalisation (Nagel, Hinton & Griffin, 2012). Thus, it is not suprising that Indigenous Australian’s experience health inequalities, as discused above, and that they are at greated risk then the non-Indigenous population to illness, death and suicide (Nagel et al., 2012).

2. What have you seen in practice or through relevant resources that highlights positive strategies for improving mental health and well-being for members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?

Literature has linked social support to health and wellbeing ( Sun et al., 2014). It has been discussed that through social support we can build resilience to adversity (Sun et al., 2014). Therefore, placing supportive structures within Indigenous communities is a great way to encourage social support, relationship building and to create a supportive environemnt that members of a community can feel comfortable and safe within (Sun et al., 2012). Accordingly, through working through issues or problems with people that can build resilience, increasing overall mental health and well being. Further, training and workshops, similar to that seen in ‘Deadily thinking’, that are carried out within Indigenous communitites for Indigenous people that focus on mental health and well being- what is depression?, what is anxiety?, what does it look like?, how can we support?- is a great strategy to increase mental health awareness, and to decrease the stigma surrounding mental health. Further, training can help highlight the challenges to Indigenous mental health that individuals face (Nagel et al., 2012).
3.Briefly outline the potential you consider it has in areas in high school, and more broadly in your community.
4. Provide a specific example of MHFA being utilised effectively or a situation in which you consider it may have been helpful.

(This answer was combined)
I was unaware about Mental Health First Aid until now and I am very happy I have the opportunity to look into the courses they provide and what they cover because I think this is a very important certificate to have. Just as workers who work in the in helping positions may have a Senior first aid certificate (Provide First Aid), we should also have a Mental Health First Aid certificate, given that mental health problems are so prevalent in our society. Therefore, we should be able to feel some degree of confidence in providing support to someone who is experiencing a mental health crisis or situation. Courses provide understanding about adolescent development, the signs and symptoms of the common mental health problems in young people, where and how to get help when a young person is developing a mental illness, what sort of help is effective and how to manage a crisis situation. In particularly, I think community workers would benefit from having some guidence in supporting someone who is in a mental health crisis situation, as this can be confronting and without knowing particular guidelines to providing mental health first aid, we could be doing more harm then good. Some mental health crisis situations could include: suicdal thoughts and behaviours, self-injury, panic attacks, severe effects of drug or alcohol use and aggressive behaviours. For exmaple, providing mental health first aid to an Aboriginal people involves understanding that person’s culture and their concept of mental health. We must be cultrually competent and always provide first aid that is cultrually safe, which means we must take in the spiritual or cultural context of the person’s behaviours and be respectrul when communicating with the person (knowing what is cultrually appropiate).

Reference:
Nagel, T., Hinton, R., & Griffin, C. (2012). Yarning about Indigenous mental health: Translation of a recovery paradigm to practice. Advances in Mental Health, 10(3), 216-223.
Sun, J., Buys, N., Tatow, D., & Johnson, L. (2014). Ongoing Health Inequality in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population in Australia: Stressful Event, Resilience, and Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being Difficulties. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, 2(1), 38-45.
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